Jubilee Girls Basketball Brings Home State Title

BROWNSVILLE - When you walk into the gym of Jubilee Brownsville, you'll see multiple banners on the wall.

And after this basketball season, one more banner will be added to the group.

"It feels really fantastic because after the long and hard years of going and sadly having to come back with out anything, we are finally bringing back something to not only show us, but the RGV because it was out first time in eleven years to bring home the championship here to south Texas, and I think that is a huge milestone, not just for us but the RGV as a whole," said Jacqueline Cavazos, a senior center.

The Lady Titans are veterans when it comes to competing at the state level.

But they have never been able to bring home the gold, until this year.

"It felt very accomplished and satisfying and a relief because I have been here since it all started just five tears ago," said Cynthia Marroquin, a senior guard. "I got moved up in 8th grade and we finally, fought for it and we finally accomplished it after three years going to state."

Not only did they bring back the first state title for their program, they were the first program under head coach Victor Venegas.

"It was good," said Victor Vnegas. "It is exciting to know that all the hard work that the girls put in the court finally pays off. We have been there the past two seasons, we always come out short in the semi-finals, and this year we got over the hump and took the state title so it feels great."

"Helping him achieve that as a coach here, just felt even more satisfying to win," said Marroquin.

"That is the greatest accomplishment for him to know that all of our hard work that he helped us with, paid off finally and brought us the championship title, said Cavazos.

How did they do it you ask?

"This we were better prepared, we were faster, the style of game that we had this year and the mentality we have was to play fast, and a faster pace then other teams, we didn't want to play half court, we wanted to get that rebound and run the court," said Venegas.

"We played strong through it all, and most importantly we had heart. We all had a goal to bring home a championship rather than coming home empty handed once again," said Cavazos.

They say the state experience is like no other.

And these girls can agree.

"It's really nerve-racking, not really knowing what is going to happen, but having that feeling of once we own the first game, we knew we could do this," said Cavazos. "Only one more, and once we were at those final seconds, seeing the score in those final seconds, knowing we were coming home with the championship title was relieving, and felt so accomplished."

(CYNTHIA MARROQUIN: "The state experience was exciting and nerve-racking at the same time," said Marroquin. "Exciting because I was with my teammates which are like my sisters, and we were just having a good time, eating and singing on the bus, and nerve-racking because of the pressure of willing the state title."